EU taking a closer look at cross-border posting of workers
Within cross-border provisions of services, many entrepreneurs post their employees to temporarily work in other EU countries. As the services’ users in economically stronger member states might easily misuse cheaper labour from abroad, since 1996 the EU has been regulating the conditions that must be guaranteed to workers posted abroad. Some employers, however, have found ways to circumvent the regulation, which is why the EU has adopted a new directive aimed at better enforcing the existing duties. Its implementation in Czech law is taking place through amendments to three separate acts, which are now going to the senate.
In accordance with the original directive on posting workers aboard, the Czech Labour Code stipulates that employees posted to work in the Czech Republic by an employer with its registered office in another EU country must be guaranteed at least the basic Czech working conditions by the posting employer if they are more advantageous for the employees. This minimum standard concerns working hours and holidays, minimum and guaranteed wages including extra pay for overtime, occupational safety and health protection regulation, working condition of pregnant and breast-feeding employees and minor-aged employees, equal treatment and non-discrimination of employees, and, finally, working conditions of agency employees. The labour laws of the other member states then similarly protect Czech employees posted to work abroad.
Nevertheless, the practical application of the directive has lagged behind. The new directive thus aims to establish a more efficient monitoring system of compliance with the stipulated duties. The Ministry of Labour implements the new directive through amendments to the Labour Inspection Act, the Labour Code and the Employment Act. The amendments are now going through the legislative process, and their wording has already been passed by the chamber of deputies.
Under the amended Labour Code, a Czech company as a foreign supplier’s customer should also be liable for making sure that employees posted to it receive remuneration at least equal to Czech minimum limits. At the same time, the powers of the Labour Inspection Office are being extended: it will be authorised to check whether employers are truthfully declaring the originating country of the employees, whether the posting is indeed temporary, and whether minimum standards are being guaranteed to the employees. And offenders will not be able to hide behind state borders: national authorities supervising compliance with labour laws will closely cooperate.
Czech employers posting their employees to work abroad have to expect that the inspection authorities of other member states will apply a similarly stricter regime. To allow for the employers’ better orientation in working conditions abroad, all national inspection authorities will be obliged to publish all relevant rules online.